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PARIS — Over the past 11 months, Christian Scherer has not changed his view on a larger A220. Airbus’s Chief Commercial Officer still wants a bigger sibling with “equal or more range” than the first two members of the family — the A220-100 and -300 — and given the company’s commercial experience with the A320 over decades, he wants CFM International to offer an engine alongside Pratt & Whitney’s sole and incumbent position.
Yet, for Airbus and its propulsion and industrial partners, how it achieves that mission for an airplane with roughly 170 seats has yielded few answers, though a widening scope of options — including revisions to the jet’s carbon fiber composite wing — are now on the table.
Related: Airbus advances A220-500 strategy around transcon and possible second engine
“From my perspective, and Airbus’s perspective, we need a stretch, we’re not quite sure to what extent. That’s why we don’t call it a -500, call it A221,” he said in an interview with The Air Current at the Paris Air Show detailing additional layers of thinking around the aircraft and the company’s path to an eventual launch.
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